When I started this newsletter 13 editions ago, I honestly didn’t think we’d end up building tools. But after months of CMOs and founders asking the same question (How do we know if we’re showing up in AI?) we realized everyone knows AI matters, but almost nobody can actually measure their visibility at the product level. So we built the first tool specifically for eCommerce brands to fix that.

First, though, let’s talk about what happened yesterday at NRF. Google released their Universal Commerce Protocol, and the message was clear: they’re building the checkout button that lives inside AI.

Not a redirect to your site. An actual buy button in Google and Gemini where customers complete purchases without ever leaving.

For brands, you’re increasingly the fulfillment center for Google’s AI shopping experience. They own the customer relationship; you ship the boxes.

TL;DR;

• Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol means AI agents complete purchases without customers visiting your site
• LLM discoverability for commerce is different—your product feed is now your storefront, not your website
• We built a free tool to score your AI visibility across the funnel
• Elite brands average 87.8, struggling brands score 62.8
• Most brands don’t know they’re invisible until traffic drops mysteriously
• This isn’t about SEO anymore; it’s about existing in the answer

What Changed Yesterday

Remember Edition 08 when I showed you Google AI was eating Google Search? Traffic dropping 10-25% for most brands, up to 70% for some smaller sites. Back then, Google was still primarily sending traffic downstream to merchant sites. Yesterday, they stopped pretending.

With the Universal Commerce Protocol, they’ve positioned themselves as the actual transaction layer. AI agents can now discover your products, compare you to competitors, complete the purchase inside Google or Gemini, and handle post-purchase support. You’re still the merchant of record (you fulfill and ship), but Google owns the customer relationship.

Why Commerce Is Different

Showing up in ChatGPT for “who won the 2024 election” is completely different from showing up for “best running shoes under $150.”

For news, LLMs pull from high-authority sources and recent articles. For commerce, they need clean product feeds, structured specs, real user reviews, accurate pricing, and clear use case mapping. It’s not about your blog content. It’s about your backend data and how machine-readable your product information is.

The Visibility Gap

When we analyzed 100+ brands for Edition 07, elite performers like Nike (94), DJI (92), and Dyson (91) showed up everywhere: category queries, problem-solving queries, lifestyle queries, innovation queries. Average brands score 75-80. Invisible brands are below 65.

Most brands show up for one hero SKU and think they’re winning. They’re not.

The Tool

For months, brands have been asking: “How do we check if we’re showing up?” You can manually test ChatGPT fifty times and tally results, but that’s not realistic.

So we built the first eCommerce-specific AI visibility tool.

Unlike generic AI checkers, this actually looks at your individual products, your PDPs, your product feed quality.

It tests your brand across discovery, consideration, and conversion queries the way real shoppers actually search. You get a score showing where you’re visible and where you’re absent.

The Trust Problem With AI Ads

Ads are already showing up in AI Overviews. But they work differently than you’re used to.

In traditional search, money bought placement. In AI search, money gets you considered. The AI still has to verify that your product actually fits what the user needs.

If the fit isn’t strong, the AI will surface you with a disclaimer or suggest an alternative. Paid placement gets you in the conversation. Organic data determines whether you’re taken seriously.

This matters more as AI becomes the default interface, not less.

Check your brand here: Commerce GPT Visibility Tool

What Your Score Means

90-100: You’re everywhere. AI recommends you by default. Clean feed, strong reviews, perfect metadata. Probably seeing 5%+ traffic from ChatGPT already.

75-89: You show up inconsistently. In the game but vulnerable. Work needed on product descriptions, feed optimization, off-site mentions.

60-74: Barely visible. Might show up for exact brand searches, but missing from category queries. Losing to competitors right now.

Below 60: You don’t exist in AI. Most DTC brands under $10M are here, and the gap compounds monthly.

The Uncomfortable Reality

Some of you will get a score in the 50s or 60s. That’s going to sting. But you’d rather know now than six months from now when traffic is down 30% and you’re scrambling to understand why.

In Edition 03, Lulus got 14.6% of traffic from ChatGPT while a competitor got 0.81%. Same category, 18x difference.

The gap is widening. Brands scoring 95+ today will score 110+ in six months through compounding authority. Brands at 60 will drop to 45 through compounding invisibility.

There’s no middle ground. You’re either in the answer or you’re not.

The Bottom Line

Google’s UCP launch yesterday was a wake-up call. They’re openly building an AI shopping layer where they control discovery, consideration, and conversion. Your only defense is being so present in AI recommendations that customers ask for you by name.

Check where you stand, be honest about the score, and if it’s low, fix it before competitors do. Unlike traditional SEO where you could gradually improve, AI visibility has winner-take-all dynamics. The brands that win compound their authority monthly. The brands that lose disappear before they realize they were in a fight.

Tomer

P.S. When you get your score, share it and tag me on LinkedIn or Twitter. I’m curious about the distribution across industries. And if you’re scoring low, don’t be embarrassed. Most brands are. The difference is whether you do something about it.